The Agent in the Blind Spot
by NatesMama
Summary: When Booth finally confronts Pelant, one-on-one, he's not nearly alone as he thinks.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Okay, so…this is my version of how the team gets Pelant. Yes, I know that as of Monday Pelant is gone one way or the other, and this took me *forever* to finish, but I'm getting it in under the wire. Barely.**

**It is a multi-chapter, but those of you who know how much I suck at posting regularly, fear not…it's already finished. I'll be posting the four complete chapters throughout Sunday, and the epilogue on Monday morning. **

**Big, huge props to Tracy and Cindee for your *invaluable* help. They both read through this little ditty several times, Cindee caught several technical and story errors as did Tracy, who also helped polish it while she was on **_**vacation**_**, so she wins the Epically Awesome Above-And-Beyond Beta/Friend Award this week.**

**Any and all errors are mine alone. **

* * *

The Agent in the Blind Spot

Angela stepped through Brennan's office door and stopped in her tracks. The look on her friend's face was…well, she could only describe it as terrified. The scientist sat at her desk, one hand resting on her office phone and the other fisted tightly against her chest, eyes closed.

"Bren?"

Blue eyes opened slowly, and the turmoil and worry Angela saw there made her draw a sharp breath and take an awkward step backwards. Recovering quickly, she moved to Brennan's side and slid to her knees next to her friend.

"Brennan. What's going on?" Angela took the hand that was still clutching the phone and held it tightly. "Bren, you're scaring me. Did something happen? To Booth?" She shook her head in despair. "To…Christine?"

At her daughter's name, Brennan finally blinked, slowly and deliberately. With a shake of her head, she seemed to come back to herself and turned to look Angela directly in the eye. "No, Christine is fine, Ang."

"B-Booth?"

Visibly swallowing, Brennan nodded. "It's time, Angela. He's found Pelant."

_~Two Months Ago~_

"_Angela, could I talk to you? Privately?"_

_Angela looked up from her work and smiled at her best friend, who seemed uncomfortable as she stood in the doorway of the artist's office. "Sure, Sweetie. Just close the door behind you."_

_Brennan did as she was asked and moved slowly to the sofa that sat against the windowed wall of the office. Angela, her curiosity on high alert, got up from behind her desk to join her. Once they were settled, Brennan cleared her throat, seemed to nod to herself, and then began speaking._

"_You know that Booth decided that getting married wasn't something that we needed, correct?"_

_Angela released a huff, her eyes narrowing. "Oh yeah, I remember. I can't say that I'm not still angry as hell about it, either."_

"_Angela…"_

"_No, Brennan. He broke your heart. I get to be as mad about this on your behalf as I want."_

_Brennan sighed and nodded. "Alright. And yes, you're right. My heart was…crushed…" A small smile crossed her lips in direct incongruity with her words. "But after a great deal of reflection, I've realized that I failed to take all the evidence into account."_

_Rolling her eyes, Angela took Brennan's hand. "What evidence? He said no, after he said yes. That was pretty cruel, Bren."_

"_No!" The vehement retort rocked Angela backward a bit. "Booth is many things, but he is never cruel. And he would never hurt me if he could possibly avoid it. Ever." She looked at her friend, locking eyes with her and begging her to understand. _

"_So you're saying that he couldn't avoid it? I don't get it."_

"_What were we doing when I first proposed?"_

_Angela released a sigh, the memory of that terrible week still relatively fresh. "Trying to catch that bastard Pelant."_

"_Exactly."_

_At her friend's oblique urging, a terrible idea began to form in Angela's head, one that seemed both ridiculous and completely plausible. "You think Pelant had something to do with Booth turning you down."_

"_No."_

"_No?" She narrowed her eyes in confusion. "But you just said…"_

"_I don't think Pelant had something to do with it, Angela. I'm sure of it."_

~Present Day~

"What happened, Brennan? Did Booth call?"

They had moved to Brennan's sofa, hidden behind the closed door and drawn shades. A small black electrical device sat, blinking, on the table in front of them.

"Yes, but…only to cancel lunch."

"Oh." Angela nodded. "What was his excuse?"

"Paperwork."

"Okay, alright…" Angela took a deep, cleansing breath. "Let's be rational about this." The friends shared an ironic look, tinged with fear. "While it's historically true that Booth would never choose paperwork over you…or food, we can't be completely sure that Pelant is the reason."

Brennan nodded. "I concur. And yes, I know that it's ridiculous to assume but…" She gnawed at the inside of her cheek, obviously unsure of how much she should reveal. "Last night…we were, you know, being intimate…"

"Okay…" Angela nodded in encouragement.

"And he was…distracted."

"So?"

A small smile crept onto the anthropologist's face. "Booth is never, ever distracted when we are making love." Her smile turned dreamy, something Angela never expected to see in her entire life. "His focus is singular, intense and irrefutable."

"Wow." Angela breathed.

"Mmmhmm." A self-satisfied smirk lingered for a moment before Brennan regained her focus. "In any case, I had a feeling that Booth was closing in on Pelant's location and his behavior last night started to solidify that. Then, this morning at breakfast he…well, the only way I can think to describe it is that Booth was there, but he wasn't _there._ If that makes any sense."

"I get it, sweetie. But since he changed his mind about marrying you, he's been like that…distant. You know that."

"Yes, but this was different, Angela. And now…he's canceling lunch with me for paperwork. Which he has done before, and things have been much better lately, back to more normal behavior. But we were supposed to go get Christine and take her to the park to eat." She closed her eyes briefly, thinking about another park visit three months prior. "He would not turn down a chance to see his daughter during the day, not now."

Angela shook her head. "I understand that you think this is all solid evidence, Bren. I do. But it's like you said, Booth has been, for lack of a better word, distracted for months now. I even suspected that he was cheating on you-"

"Angela, you know that's not true. Booth would never betray me that way."

"I know, I know…but even so, things being better between you or no, we still don't know for sure-."

"I realize that." Brennan agreed, and then closed her eyes for a moment. "When he called to cancel lunch, he said that he had something important he needed to finish."

"The paperwork?"

"He said he had quite a bit, yes. But then…" Brennan swallowed through the lump that had formed in her throat. "He, he said he would get something from the lunch cart on the third floor."

"Oookay…" Angela shook her head. "I'm not following."

"Do you remember last month when he got so sick at work?"

"Oh yeah." A small smile crossed her face. "He was such a baby about it."

Brennan's smile was almost wistful. "Yes. It was from the sandwich he'd purchased from the lunch cart."

"The third floor lunch cart?"

"Yes."

"I remember that. He swore he would paint his hair blue and sing 'Firework' naked in front of the whole lab before he got another meal there again." Hand still clutching Brennan's knee, The artist nodded. "Okay. I'm convinced."

"So this is it, Angela." Brennan pulled her cell phone from her pocket and speed dialed a number. While she waited for the other party to pick up, Angela stared at the device still in front of them with a slight frown. "Dad? Could you do me a favor and pick Christine up from day care? Yes, a case has us tied up right now. No, I'll pick her up at your place; please don't bring her to the house. Thanks, I'll call you later. Bye."

Angela swallowed thickly as Brennan turned to her with a smile that looked more like a grimace. "Well, here we go."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Booth stepped into the converted warehouse as if he didn't have a care in the world. He strolled around the debris, left in neat piles by whatever clean-up crew had been hired by the original owner and catalogued the entrances and exits of the bottom floor as he moved to the steel staircase that ran along one inner wall of the building.

He could hear soft footsteps on the upper floor, solidifying his suspicions. His contact had an informant in the person of a homeless woman who had seen someone matching Pelant's description coming and going from the warehouse for over a week, and had offered up her information in exchange for fifty dollars and a hot coffee.

If this panned out the way Booth hoped, he was going to buy the woman a house.

Keeping his step light, Booth ascended the stairs, gun still strapped in his shoulder holster. If the device he'd been given by the FBI IT department worked the way it should, Pelant would never see him coming and his plan hinged on appearing as unimposing as possible. He just hoped it didn't backfire on him.

* * *

"I'm not getting a signal from the transmitter, Bren." Angela tapped her control screen as she desperately tried to bring up the audio and video feed from the tiny surveillance device Brennan had made sure was sitting on Booth's lapel that morning. "Something is wrong and I don't like it."

"Do you think Pelant discovered the device?" Brennan asked, twisting her hands in front of her as she stood next to her best friend in front of the Angelatron's large screen.

Angela shook her head. "No, I implanted a failsafe that I invented. It turns the device cold when he checks for it, so it can't be detected by a scanner. Then I jammed the signal in this room so he doesn't know we're watching, and hopefully he thinks we're just working on trying to track him as usual. Basically, I jammed the signal from this room so he knows we're looking for him, but doesn't suspect I've found a backdoor to send and receive signal from Booth's bug. Then, I made sure my system is on a secure server that only I know about, but…"

"Nothing is completely secure with Christopher Pelant."

Angela's tight nod confirmed what Brennan already knew to be true. Something was very wrong.

* * *

Booth listened closely as Pelant, still out of his sight line, moved from one area of the room to another, muttering to himself. Booth knew the reason his adversary was irritated, and he indulged himself for a few more moments, enjoying the frustration he could hear from across the room.

"Dammit!" Pelant cursed, tapping a set of commands into his laptop as his beady eyes darted from one external screen to another. His internet signal was being interrupted and he began to suspect that he might have to get out of the building as soon as possible.

"Something wrong, Christopher?"

The twisted genius froze, the low voice of Special Agent Seeley Booth crashing over him like a bucket of ice cold water. Swallowing through the tightness in his throat, he composed himself and turned slowly; giving off an air of calm he was nowhere near close to feeling.

Pelant smiled and held his arms out in mock welcome. "Agent Booth! So nice of you to join me."

Crossing his arms across his chest, Booth nodded. "Pelant. We need to talk. But first…" He reached cautiously for his jacket pocket, one hand extended in a gesture meant to placate his foe. When he pulled the small black box with the blinking red light from its hiding place, Pelant nodded in acknowledgment.

"I wondered who was jamming my system."

With a click, Booth shut off the device. "No need to keep this on. It's just you and me here, Christopher."

* * *

"There he is!" Angela cried as Pelant's mangled face appeared on her screen.

Brennan gasped as she heard Booth speaking to the maniac in front of them. "Oh God…"

* * *

Pelant moved a step closer to Booth, emboldened by the fact that the agent's weapon stayed securely in his holster. "You really expect me to believe that you don't have a full SWAT team outside this building, Agent Booth? That Doctor Brennan and her team aren't standing by, anxiously waiting for you to bring me in?"

Booth shrugged, his casual air more unnerving to his opponent than if the former sniper had been holding a gun directly to his head. "Believe what you want to believe. I don't need a SWAT team and I don't need the Jeffersonian team backing me up. This is just between you and me."

"So you're going to take me in all on your own? Knowing that I can just push a few buttons and be free in hours?"

"You seriously think you're going to jail?" Booth's short laugh caused a shot of fear to skitter up Pelant's spine. "I thought you were a genius, Pelant. What makes you think you're ending this day in anything but a body bag?"

* * *

Knowing why Booth was hunting Pelant and actually hearing it verbalized were two completely different things, Angela thought to herself as they watched Pelant's face acknowledge Booth's words. Not that she disagreed with the course of action, because if anyone deserved to leave this planet as soon as possible it was Christopher Pelant. But the reality of the situation was making the artist feel skittish, and she looked to her right to see how it was affecting her friend.

Brennan tipped her head slightly away from Angela, hoping she couldn't see the tear that slid down her right cheek. She was battling her inner need to immediately go to Booth and help him dispose of the man who had been terrorizing them for the better part of two years, because deep down she knew that this was what had to happen. But she also knew that no matter what he said afterward, Booth was going to struggle with this and that was the last thing that Brennan wanted for him.

Pushing her own worries down tightly, Brennan forced a small smile and nodded at Angela before turning her attention back to the drama unfolding on the screen in front of her.

* * *

Rolling his eyes, Pelant tried to force a laugh. "You won't kill me in cold blood, Agent Booth. You're too good a man for that."

Booth nodded. "You would think so. I mean, I used to be." He dropped his crossed arms and began to pull his jacket off his shoulders. "But you'd be surprised what you can rationalize when you've been faced with losing your family for three months, seeing a flayed body on your friends' bed and bloody flowers in their child's crib, having that same friend lose everything their family has worked for in the blink of an eye, having another friend's life almost taken in the middle of the street…" Booth stopped abruptly while somewhere across town; his partner was holding her breath, waiting for his next words.

"Having to lie to the woman you love and make her believe that you don't want to marry her, when that's the only thing you've ever wanted to do since the day you laid eyes on her."

* * *

"He thought he was trying to protect you, Bren."

"I should have had more faith in him from the beginning."

"I still don't understand why…"

"Shhh, Angela."

* * *

"Still lamenting the demise of your engagement, Booth? I don't know why, she's still sticking around." Pelant watched as Booth finished removing his jacket and placed it carefully on a chair between them, a few feet away to the side.

"I hurt her when I promised her I would never do that again."

* * *

Brennan's mouth twitched as Booth's frame came into view of the camera. She watched closely as her partner moved back to stand in front of Pelant, the two men continuing their standoff on either side of the frame. "It's a good thing he laid his jacket like that otherwise we would have lost video and the audio would have been compromised."

Something in Brennan's tone made Angela stare at her for a moment. "Yeah. We got lucky Booth is so fastidious about his clothes."

"Yes, Booth is...fastidious."

* * *

"Oh, she'll get over it." Pelant waved a hand in front of his face, smarmy smile in place. "I mean, it's not like Doctor Brennan hasn't had her share of heartbreak, right? She's a pretty tough nut."

A bit of Booth's weakness for any and all things Brennan leaked through as he responded. "That she is."

After a few minutes of an increasingly uncomfortable (for Pelant, anyway) staring contest, the self-proclaimed "hacktivist" lost his patience.

"So if you're going to kill me, Agent Booth, why haven't you done it? I'm here, I'm unarmed…why not just shoot me between the eyes and be done with it?"

The agent shook his head and smiled. It wasn't a genuine smile; it never reached his eyes, which glittered in determination.

"Because I need you alive for this next part."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

Christopher Pelant was a genius, so he was already convinced that he knew what the next part would be before the words were spoken aloud. The best part about it was that Booth was actually playing right into what was Pelant's plan all along.

"I just need to know…why us?"

Pelant's face broke into a surprisingly sunny smile, marred only by the damage to his right side, damage inflicted by the man standing in front of him, arms once again crossed over his chest. He had been waiting for this moment for longer than anyone he had unwillingly recruited into his little game ever suspected.

His smile never faltered. "Do you really want to know? It's a long story, Agent Booth."

Booth reached behind him and grabbed another chair, sitting down to face the younger man. "Grab a seat, Christopher. I have all day."

"Are you wearing a wire, Agent Booth?"

"Not a wire anywhere. Want me to take off my shirt?" A bitter smile crossed Booth's lips. And anyway, why bother? I'm just going to kill you when this is done."

Pelant looked into Booth's hard, obsidian glare, judging his sincerity, and then nodded. "Alright then."

* * *

"Are you recording this, Angela?"

"Oh yeah."

* * *

"It all started in July of 2005." Now sitting in a folding chair across from Booth, Pelant leaned forward slightly, resting his elbows on his knees. "I was reading an article in a forensic magazine about the death of Gemma Arrington and the subsequent arrest of Judge Myles Hasty for her murder."

Booth didn't even try to hide his surprise. "That far back? Really?"

"Oh yes. I was fascinated by the forensic aspects of the case." Pelant smirked. "I mean, come on Agent Booth, let's be honest here. You were stalled with no evidence linking Hasty to the killing. Without Doctor Brennan you never would have solved it."

Booth nodded. "I don't deny it. Bones was brilliant on that case."

"Be that as it may, something happened there, am I right? Caused you decide against working together? I read Doctor Sweets' book, but he glossed over it."

An imperceptible eye twitch was all that Booth gave away. "We're talking about you and your twisted reasoning here. Just finish the story. I'm already bored." Booth adjusted his position, crossing one ankle over his knee and relaxing back in his chair again.

"Fine, fine. Now, where was I? Oh yes, July of 2005. After I read about the Arrington case, I looked into you and Doctor Brennan more closely. I became…interested, for lack of a better word, in your partner. I collected all the information available about her I could, which wasn't much. Of course…" He smiled, "For me, getting the information I want has never been an issue. I eventually learned all about her parents' disappearance and her rise to the top of the anthropology world, but it was never enough. You see, Agent Booth, I couldn't figure out what made her tick, what was going through that big, beautiful brain of hers at any given moment, and for me…that was a problem."

Booth leveled his gaze at the ceiling briefly before giving what almost looked like a genuine smile to Pelant. "Well, it looks like we finally found something we have in common there, Christopher."

Pelant closed his eyes for a moment. "I realize that now. But at the time I couldn't imagine how I could get her attention and draw her to me. Now, don't look at me like that, Booth. It wasn't sexual, not completely…although Doctor Brennan was-is a beautiful woman. It was mostly pure scientific inquiry. I wanted to put her under my microscope and…study her. And then, of course, destroy her."

An unnatural chill enveloped Booth as his adversary described his fascination with and ultimate plan for Brennan. Thankful the woman in question was safely miles away, he nodded at Pelant to continue.

* * *

Across town, Angela watched the exchange between the two men with a shudder. "Are you alright, Bren? Because I have to say, this is creeping me the hell out."

"I will be alright when this is over and Booth is safe." Brennan shook her head to clear her innate worry over her partner. "Let's just let him finish this."

* * *

"So, how did you 'study' her? You a stalker now?" Booth gave off an air of calm but inside the thought of Christopher Pelant following Brennan around for months made him sick to his stomach.

"Not at all, Booth. Once the two of you became partners it was fairly easy to keep an eye on her. On both of you, really. You were in the papers all the time. But after a few months, it just wasn't enough."

Dread wound its way down Booth's spine at Pelant's words. "What did you do?"

"Do you remember Kevin Franzen, Agent Booth?"

The name sounded vaguely familiar to Booth, but it was just out of his brain's reach so he shook his head.

"Really? One of the first cases you had? Franzen was convicted of killing Dave Hardy and then burning his body and leaving him on the scaffolding in front of the Washington Monument. Sound familiar now?"

Booth nodded tightly. He mostly remembered how pissed Brennan had been at both him and Michael Stires for the previous case. She had barely spoken to him unless it concerned the case at hand. "Yeah. We had motive, opportunity and Franzen's DNA was all over the place."

"Yeah, it was some of my best work, actually."

"What?" Booth's voice was low, betraying some of the horror he was feeling.

"I lived next door to Kevin Franzen. Real asshole. Played his music all hours of the day and night. Always throwing some sort of party. Best night of sleep I got in months was the night after you and Doctor Brennan came and arrested him for killing Hardy." Pelant recalled, dispassionately.

"Jesus Christ." Booth breathed.

"Oh, I assure you, your Lord and Savior had nothing to do with it whatsoever. And let's not be so dramatic. It was a means to an end. I wanted to see, close up, how the two of you worked together. And it was impressive."

"You played us and an innocent man is in prison now."

"Well, he _was._ Didn't you hear?" Pelant grinned at Booth's blank look. "Kevin Franzen was killed in prison six months into his sentence."

"You're a monster."

* * *

"He is a monster." Brennan's declaration came in tandem with Booth's as Angela looked from the screen in front of her to the woman next to her in awe.

"I will never understand how the two of you do that."


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Okay, this is the last full chapter. There will be an epilogue posted Monday morning, but if I get anxious it may post tonight. Who knows?**

**Hopefully this makes sense, in the end.**

* * *

"_You played us and an innocent man is in prison now."_

_Pelant grinned. "Well, he was. Didn't you hear? Kevin Franzen was killed in prison six months into his sentence."_

"_You're a monster."_

* * *

Chapter Four

Pelant leaned back in his chair, not the least bit offended by Booth's characterization. "Monsters are, by definition, imaginary, Agent Booth. And I am most definitely real."

Booth couldn't disagree, Pelant was most definitely real. But the self-described hacktivist was wrong about one thing. He _was _a monster… a real life, honest-to-God monster. That's the part that disturbed Booth the most, even with all the tools and expertise he had at his disposal. Despite all the training in how to handle dangerous situations and come out on top, this time it was different. Maybe it was because Pelant had made it personal. Maybe it was because he didn't follow any predictable profile. Whatever the reason, Booth realized that even though he had walked into this warehouse fully in control, he was wholly unprepared for how this conversation was going. And that realization chilled his blood but steeled his resolve.

Determined to end this once and for all no matter the cost to himself, Booth shook his head. "Fine. You're real. Is that all then? An obsession with Brennan? Because that's a pretty simple scenario for someone like you."

"Well…" Pelant drew the word out like a petulant child. "Okay, you got me, Agent Booth. I admit that, at first, Doctor Brennan as a scientist was my sole focus. But once I'd observed your interactions, as partners, I couldn't resist looking deeper."

"Deeper?"

"You didn't sleep together that first meeting…but you both wanted to. Can I ask why you didn't?"

Booth wanted to twist his neck for the audacity, but in light of his own reasons for sitting in this abandoned warehouse, he decided to let it go. "You can ask."

"Ah. So even you don't know. I wondered about that, Doctor Sweets' notes were quite vague. You never asked Brennan why she turned you down."

* * *

"Sweetie…" Angela whispered roughly. "You never told me…"

"No, Angela. I didn't."

* * *

"I get it; you were interested in our partnership. What else?" Booth was tired of Pelant's games and just wanted some answers, once and for all, and his irritation was showing.

Pelant shrugged. "Alright, your relationship with Brennan is off limits, I get it. Fine." He adjusted his position on the hard-backed chair and continued, a glint in his eye and a frown on his face. "In the end it comes down to the fact that I just wanted a worthy adversary for my game."

"A game. You've killed numerous innocent people, stole billions from Hodgins, sent Brennan on the run and forced me to take back our engagement by threatening to kill innocents…for what? Fun?"

* * *

Angela gasped at Booth's admission and looked quickly to Brennan. The other woman held no expression on her face, no outward signs of the emotion she had to be feeling, save for one. A lone tear that tracked its way down her pale cheek.

"Oh, Booth." Brennan sighed.

* * *

"Well, except for this little reminder you inflicted on me," He waved a hand across his right cheek as he spoke. "This has been fun. I know you don't understand, but maybe when we're done here, you will."

"So get on with it, then. I have places to be."

"Alright. So where were we? Oh yes, Dave Hardy's murder. Anyway, that went off without a hitch, but it was hard to watch from so far away so I started learning more and more about surveillance, electronics…whatever I needed to pick up to continue my little experiment. Along the way, I also discovered some pretty despicable dealings within our own government, specifically the military and the FBI and CIA, so for awhile that became my focus and I let things between you and Doctor Brennan fall away to the side."

"And that's when you started hacking into government websites."

"Yes." Pelant looked immeasurably pleased with himself at that. "But I was so good, I wasn't even close to getting caught, and things were happening that didn't require my constant attention, so I returned to my first hobby, your partnership. Of course by then things had really changed for you. Max Keenan was back, Doctor Saroyan had joined your little group and had apparently enjoyed a pretty salacious relationship with you, and Doctor Addy had fallen in with a serial killer. Pretty exciting stuff, actually."

"Yeah, thrilling." Booth fought rolling his eyes.

"Oh, but it was. I mean, I knew Doctor Addy was conspiring with the Gormogon killer months before you two ever did. And up until you pretended to get yourself killed to save the woman you loved, it was unbelievably fun to watch you all fumble around trying to find the apprentice when he was right under your nose the entire time." Pelant sighed happily. "It almost made me wonder if Brennan was smart enough to even bother to continue, but I ultimately concluded that your influence had made her emotionally vulnerable, which clouded her judgment. And once Addy was gone, she was back to her old self." He stopped to take a sip of water from the bottle on the floor next to him. "But long before all of that, I did set another crime scene up for you both. Unfortunately, before you could even investigate the case you were separated for Max Keenan's trial, so…"

"The skeleton in a circle? That was you, too?" Booth gasped, shock crossing his visage before he thought better of it and schooled his features again. "Who was it? Someone you knew?"

"That doesn't even matter anymore, the point is you and Brennan never got your hands on it, so I don't even care. No one solved it, from what I recall. Eh, it doesn't matter, what matters is that after the Addy debacle, I decided to ramp things up a bit. But it had to be epic. And I knew I needed more information about you and Doctor Brennan than I had access to at the time, but luckily for me, the FBI made the serendipitous decision that you both be assigned to couples counseling."

* * *

"Poor Sweets." Brennan murmured.

Angela nodded sadly. "Yeah."

* * *

"So you've been reading Sweets' notes from the very beginning."

"Oh yes. And it's been a glorious revelation! I mean, how many criminal masterminds have complete access to the psyches of the people they're targeting? I was able to use your counseling sessions, along with Doctor Sweets' observations and my personal surveillance to craft an almost perfect scenario, designed to not only force you both into my game, but also to satisfy my need for justice in regards to the criminal acts of both the FBI and the Pentagon."

"We're talking a four year gap here, Christopher. It took you that long to come up with a plan?" Booth leaned back in his chair again as Pelant leaned forward, not wanting to get too close to his prey too soon.

Pelant chuckled. "If you'll remember, Agent Booth, I got into a little bit of trouble around that fourth year of your partnership. Getting caught hacking into the Senate and Pentagon websites slowed me down a bit, and because of my house arrest limited my access to, well, almost everything. And the things I missed during that time!" He shook his head sadly. "I was sorry to hear about your brain tumor."

"Yeah, I can feel your sympathy." Booth snarked.

"Oh, I really was sorry. I mean, if you had died my plan would have been obliterated. Doctor Brennan is no fun to play with without her fierce protector. Had you not been there…well, let's just say it would not have ended well for Ms. Montenegro."

"Angela?" Booth looked spooked. "What were you planning to do to Angela?"

"Kill her, of course."

* * *

"Remind me to send Doctor Jursik a thank-you note for saving Booth's life, sweetie."

"You can enclose yours with mine."

* * *

"What purpose would killing Angela serve?" Booth ignored the drop of sweat he could feel sliding down his spine as he stared Pelant in the eye.

Pelant looked surprised. "Why else? Because if you were dead, she would be Doctor Brennan's closest relationship. You see, I couldn't have her all to myself unless I first made her dependant emotionally."

"All to yourself? I thought she was just a plaything to you."

Pelant nodded. "Oh, she was. But in the course of my…surveillance, let's call it; I realized that Temperance is really a singular woman. Unlike any other woman I'd ever known. And so rational! I've never seen a woman more immersed in the rules of science and reason." The psychopath sighed happily. "She really is fascinating."

"What about Max Keenan?" Booth asked, fighting nausea at what could only be called the dreamy look on Pelant's face.

"Oh, I considered it. He is her father, after all. And he did abandon her as a child so his leaving her again might have been devastating. But, if we're being quite honest here…." He looked around conspiratorially. "Max Keenan scares me a little bit."

It took every ounce of control Booth possessed not to smile at the admission.

"In any case, you didn't die. You were very confused though, and Doctor Sweets managed to convince you that you weren't in love with Doctor Brennan, despite what you thought after your little coma dream. That surprised me, actually. I thought you had been in love with her for at least a year before your surgery, but…"

"No." Booth shook his head, his expression softening for the first time since this whole thing began. "I've been falling in love with Temperance Brennan since forever."

Pelant resisted the urge to comment, accepting the admission for what it was, an honest if not manipulative way to win some trust. "Fine. Sweets didn't convince you, but he did spook you into doubting yourself. And it did the damage either way, which only worked in my favor."

"How's that?"

"Well, according to Doctor Sweets' notes, he challenged you to 'break the stalemate', tell Doctor Brennan how you feel about her. Which, admittedly, confused me at first considering the fact that a few months before that he told you that your love for Brennan was a mirage, but…"

"Sweets had his reasons."

Pelant smiled crookedly. "Oh yes, I know. To protect Doctor Brennan's fragile heart."

* * *

Angela's breathing hitched, just loud enough for Brennan to hear her.

"What is it, Ang?"

Her dark eyes clouded with tears. "Nothing, Bren. It's…just, let's listen."

Brennan looked dubious. "Okay. If you say so."

* * *

"You don't know anything about Bones' heart." Booth tried to affect a casual air but failed miserably.

"And I don't really care what you think, Agent Booth. Temperance is not just another piece of the puzzle to me." He smiled nastily. "It's her heart that holds your team together. All of you, you're like satellites caught in her orbit, helpless against her gravitational pull."

A small smiled graced Booth's lips. "She's the linchpin." He whispered without thinking.

Pelant nodded. "An apt description. Yes, Doctor Brennan is the linchpin. All of you, you do everything you can to protect her, to keep your world spinning on its axis. You've made her dependant on all of you to exist, in an oddly symbiotic way."

Booth fought another ghost of a smile at another distant memory and forced himself to listen closely to the dangerous man in front of him as he described what he believed about his partner.

"And now, well...being a mother to your little girl has made her even more dependent on all of you, especially you."

"Leave Christine out of this." Booth growled.

"Calm down, Agent Booth. I have no immediate plans against your child specifically."

"And why should I believe you?"

"You shouldn't." Pelant replied simply. "But you sort of have to right now, don't you?"

Booth swallowed the bile that rose at the implication and nodded slightly.

"Shall we continue?"

The agent waved his hand in reply and sat back; waiting for the denouement he was sure was coming soon.

"Alright then. In any case, I think we can gloss over the year and a half or so that passed while I plotted my final scenario. Neither you nor Brennan was even in the country for most of that time, I was more than able to choose the exact methods I would use to finally draw her out."

"Why did it take so long?"

"Well, as you know, I had to learn how to get around my computer restrictions…easier than I anticipated, believe it or not. Then, of course, I had to learn how to embed code into human bone, among other things…and finally, I had to wait until that ridiculous mid-life crisis you brought home from Afghanistan left for good."

Booth sat up and poked a finger at his opponent angrily. "Leave Hannah out of this."

"Ms. Burley? Oh come on, Agent Booth…we both know she was nothing but a band-aid for your pitiful ache for Temperance. Frankly, it only reinforced my belief that you don't deserve her but whatever. The reporter was beautiful. Smart. Self-reliant. You definitely have a type, Agent Booth."

"Get to the point."

Pelant inhaled deeply and stood, reaching into the pocket of his worn sweatshirt to reveal a handheld device that looked to Booth like an old garage door opener. Pelant waved it back and forth for a moment as Booth tensed, hand held over his weapon, at the ready. Pelant considered the tightly-coiled stance of his opponent and relaxed his hand, letting the device bounce against his thigh casually.

"This is a simple remote control. See the long button here?" He pointed to the rectangular button in the middle of the device. "This one activates…everything."

Booth swallowed thickly. "Everything?"

"I've tried. I've done everything in my power to separate her from you people." Pelant continued, walking back and forth in front of the still-seated Booth as if the other man had never spoken. "I even endured that interminable nine months I was forced to wait while she carried your child. I still can't believe-" He closed his eyes, a muscle twitching in his injured cheek as he breathed deeply, clearly trying to maintain some semblance of control. After a moment, his eyes opened and fixed once again on his adversary. "In any case, I have been patient. I studied forensic anthropology, human physiology, psychology, entomology, botany…you name it, and I made it my business to know it all better than anyone. I knew it was the only way to beat your team. _As a team. _You were absolutely beatable. No group is impenetrable."

Booth shook his head at the small stab of sympathy he felt for the man in front of him. "You don't know anything about being part of a team, Pelant. At least, not the parts you can't learn from a book."

"Everything can be learned from study and research! Everything!" A small amount of spittle flew from Pelant's lips as a smirk crossed Booth's. "You people are not that special!"

Shaking his head, Booth snorted. "Then why bother engaging us? You don't have any idea how special those people are, Christopher." He stood slowly, mindful of the still-mysterious device in Pelant's white-knuckled grip. "Cam is…Camille Saroyan is not only a coroner but an ex-cop. She's an amazing leader. She's fiercely independent and absolutely dedicated to her job, but beyond all that, her capacity for caring for those she loves is boundless."

He stepped to his right, slowly beginning to circle the younger man as he continued to speak in a soft, soothing tone. "And Jack Hodgins? Christopher, I know you think you found his limit by goading him into choking you, but you don't have any idea of the passion for truth and justice he has. He is one of the best people I've ever known, and you crossed a line when you threatened the two most important people in his life. His son and his wife. You're lucky he didn't kill you in that cemetery…because I would have helped him cover it up."

Booth's circular movement was done in tandem to the rhythm of his slow vocal cadence, lulling Pelant into turning with him, the hub to his perpetual motion. "And let's not forget Angela."

"Oh, she hates you right now, Agent Booth." That brought the first real smile from Pelant since he'd begun explaining his plan.

"Not really." Booth disagreed quietly. "Angela knows, deep down, that I love Bones. But that's her nature. She's as fiercely protective as her husband, and infinitely more dangerous. That's one of the things I love most about her. She's loyal. I would have been disappointed in her if she hadn't been treating me like a leper, trust me. Plus, she's smarter than you are, so there is that."

Pelant looked affronted. "You're wrong, Agent Booth. Ms. Montenegro is not smarter than I am."

"Oh, yes she is. She combines a genius-level understanding of computers with a human element you will never, ever possess. You can't understand it because you're incapable. Once, a long time ago, another low-life serial killer like you tried to break us and taint the idea that Angela is the heart of our team…but I'm reclaiming that for her. For us. Angela is our heart and you can't crush it, no matter how hard you try."

* * *

Speechless, Angela turned to Brennan. "Bren, I…Booth is just so…"

"You knew this about him, Angela. We all did. We just forgot for awhile."

"And he thinks _you're_ the lynchpin…"

* * *

"You tried to break Sweets, too." Booth shook his head, almost sadly, as he moved around his prey. "And you almost succeeded. You separated him from the pack, at least physically, thinking we would just simply…let him drift away. That miscalculation is the one I will never understand."

"Actually, I wanted him dead, remember?" Pelant sneered.

"Oh yeah. You lost that one too, didn't you?" Booth taunted.

The younger man sighed. "This is why I shouldn't contract out."

"In any case, Sweets might be the only one of us you do understand, to a degree. He was alone in the world, too. Genius, adrift…but we brought him into our fold…" At that, Booth paused, a thoughtful look on his face. "But now that I think about it, that might have infuriated you more than almost anything we did."

"You…you don't know what you're talking about." He stuttered, tensing as Booth continued to circle him.

"Oh, I think it did." Booth whispered. "You wanted to take his place."

At that, Pelant's mouth curled up slightly. "Not his place, no."

Booth tensed; making Pelant believe he was imparting new information. "Mine, then?"

"You are incredibly slow on the uptake, Booth."

"Not as much as you might think."

There was a beep, a crackle and what sounded like bacon sizzling as the device Pelant held suddenly began to smoke. He dropped it immediately, shaking his hand in fury. "What did you do?!" He screamed.

Smiling, Booth drew his weapon. "Do you really think I'm stupid enough to come in here without backup, Christopher?" He shook his head as FBI agents swarmed the room, all holding their own weapons on the killer in front of them.

"You weren't wearing a wire!" Pelant yelled as he was unceremoniously thrown to the floor and handcuffed by a less-than-gentle SWAT member. "My system checked you for bugs when you came in! Nothing we said here was recorded! I'll be free in hours, Agent Booth! Hours!"

"You would think so, wouldn't you? I told you she was smarter than you. You should have believed me." Booth grinned humorlessly. "We got you, you son of a bitch."

"You have nothing!"

"Believe what you want, Christopher. In any case, you will be held in solitary. At the county jail. You will be guarded twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, by two FBI agents who volunteered for the job." Booth shook his head. "You killed two of our own, Pelant. You'd be amazed how many volunteers we had. And every single one of them knows that unless Doctor Brennan, Doctor Saroyan, myself and Max Keenan are standing in front of them in person authorizing it, you are not to be moved, transferred or even allowed so much as a phone call. Nothing. "

Two agents dragged Pelant to his feet, still squirming. "You can't do this! I have rights!"

"You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say or do may be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to consult an attorney before speaking to the police and to have an attorney present during questioning now or in the future. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you before any questioning, if you wish. If you decide to answer any questions now, without an attorney present, you will still have the right to stop answering at any time until you talk to an attorney." Booth paused. "You mean those rights?"

"You don't deserve her!" His legs kicked without purchase as he pulled at his restraints. "She's better, smarter, more than you will ever be! Ever!"

Booth stood back as they dragged the incensed Pelant across the room, away from him. Shoving his hands into his pockets, he sighed. "Preaching to the choir, kid. Preaching to the choir."

Special Agent Hayes Flynn stepped up next to Booth, unconsciously mimicking his stance. "You think we got everything we need? That was a hell of a chance you took, Booth."

"I know. But yeah, I think we got everything. We knew he had some kind of remote device when we found the incendiary device in my alarm clock last year. We knew he had other monitoring bugs all over our house, but as long as they weren't in our bedroom or Christine's, it was just a matter of finding the signal, which our guys did."

"He admitted to everything, yeah?"

"Enough to put him away until his date with a needle, yeah."

Flynn shook his head. "You don't think we're trying him here?"

"Nope. Not if I know Caroline, and I think that I do." Booth smiled. "David Hardy. He admitted to killing him a long time ago, and I remember him. He was killed in Virginia and that beautiful commonwealth still has the death penalty."

"Excellent." Flynn clapped Booth on the shoulder and looked around at the techs collecting evidence. "I'll stick around and supervise this mess. You should get to your team and give them the good news."

Giving his friend a knowing smirk, Booth headed across the room to retrieve his jacket. "Don't worry, Flynn. I think this kind of good news spreads pretty quickly."

With that, Booth crouched down in front of the chair that held his coat.

* * *

"What is he doing?" Angela asked as Booth's face filled their screen.

Brennan, tears in her eyes, nodded to the visage of her partner. "He knew. Right from the beginning."

* * *

"Hey Bones? It's over." Booth whispered to the pin in his lapel.

* * *

Even though she knew he could neither hear nor see her, Brennan nodded. "I know, Booth."

* * *

He pulled a small bag out of his pocket, and gripped it tight for a moment before opening it and removing a slim, jeweled bracelet. Between two fingers, he held the piece in front of his face and smiled. "Marry me, Bones?"

* * *

"Yes. Of course, yes." Brennan echoed.

* * *

Nodding happily, Booth stood and picked up his jacket. "I'm on my way to you, Bones." He turned and waved at Flynn before heading for the stairs.

"And Angela, make several copies of that conversation. Caroline is going to want it yesterday."

* * *

"Consider it done, Booth." Angela grinned, at the now-disembodied voice. Turning to a now dry-eyed Brennan, she shook her head. "He found a way to get him and never had to fire a shot. No matter how long we've known him, no matter what he does during a case, Booth never fails to surprise me."

Brennan nodded, crossing her arms around herself. "I find that to be very true of Booth almost daily." She released a long-held breath and relaxed completely for the first time in almost two years. "He is very, very surprising."


	5. Epilogue

**A/N: Alright, this is the end. Hopefully it all ends up making sense. **

**Thanks again to Cindee and Tracy for the read-throughs and support, and thanks also to everyone who reviewed and alerted and favorited this story. I appreciate it more than you know.**

* * *

Epilogue

"I'm mostly sorry, you know." Angela half-smirked at Booth as they both stood in the kitchen of his and Brennan's home. She slid closer to his side and gripped his forearm. "What you did tonight…"

Booth finished his beer and moved away from the artist to throw the bottle in the recycle bin under the sink. "I just did what I had to do, Ang."

"I beg to differ, Booth."

His confused expression made her smile. "You could have killed him, Booth. And no one would have blamed you. But Pelant was right; you are too good a man to kill someone in cold blood. Even if he was holding a device that was wired to blow up your home and the lab."

"We knew what he had done, we found the devices weeks ago. All the bombs were all disabled and disposed of. Technically, he was unarmed and I knew that."

"Still…" Angela shook her head. "You weren't completely sure. Not one hundred percent, anyway. He was watching, he could have replaced the bombs."

"Yeah." He took a swig of the water bottle he'd retrieved from the cooler next to him.

The pair stood in slightly uncomfortable silence for a few minutes, watching the gathering of their family and friends in the living room. A smirk crossed Angela's face as she watched Brennan show her "engagement bracelet" to Caroline, the older woman showing uncharacteristic excitement at the lovely jewelry.

"Very original engagement bauble, Agent Booth."

Booth shrugged his shoulder in a way that belied the internal struggle he'd gone through when choosing what to offer Brennan at his proposal. "It looked like something she would appreciate, and it won't get caught in her gloves. Plus, you know, the family birthstones…I knew she would appreciate that."

"And I noticed you left room for more stones, just in case…" Angela smiled brightly.

Booth fought a blush. "Well, we talked about it. You never know."

"And sometimes you do." She acknowledged with a sideways glance. "Clever move, mentioning the lunch cart. I missed it. You were telling us that you knew without telling us. Risky gamble."

"Not really, not with her." The glint in Booth's eye confused Angela, but she knew whatever he was saying meant something special to him and Brennan. "And believe me, I know." He glanced back over at his fiancée. "I am the gambler, after all."

* * *

Standing alone along the edges of the gathering, Max Keenan once again checked his cell phone. As if by magic, the device pinged and a message popped up on his lock screen.

"It's done."

Pocketing his phone again, Max moved to rescue his granddaughter from the arms of her Uncle Sweets, giving the younger man a wink as the girl squealed his name and clutched him tightly.

Booth may be the gambler, but Max Keenan preferred the sure thing.


End file.
